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Coaching staff completed

David Serna Completes 2005 Football StaffSerna will devote his time to the running backs

March 22, 2005

David Serna has been hired as the Florida Atlantic University running back coach, announced head coach Howard Schnellenberger, Thursday. He will join offensive line coach Dale Williams, who was announced last week as the staff's newest coaches.

"David is a young coach who we are excited about," said Schnellenberger. "He worked for two seasons with Gary Nord which makes him very familiar with our system. That, and his hard work ethic, will be a benefit to our staff."

Serna will come to Florida Atlantic after a one-year stint as the running backs coach for Mountain View (Texas) High School where he worked with Alex Miranda. Under Serna's tutelage, Miranda earned District 2-4A Offensive Most Valuable Player honors, was named Associated Press Class 4A Honorable Mention All-State, first-team El Paso Times All-City and ended his junior season ranked as the 5th best rusher in Texas Class 4A.

His collegiate experience, both as a player and as a coach, came under the direction of FAU's offensive coordinator Gary Nord. Serna played for Nord, when Nord was an assistant coach at the University of Texas-El Paso. Serna first served as a student assistant for UTEP (1998-99). Upon his graduation in 1999 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, he served as a graduate assistant. The two-year letterman was on staff in 2000 when the squad shared the Western Athletic Conference title and played in the Crucial.com Humanitarian Bowl. He was elevated to assistant coach in 2002 and began his career as a running backs coach. Under his direction, Howard Jackson (2003) was the program's first 1,000 yard rusher in four seasons, first team All-WAC, and ranked no. 4 nationally as an all-purpose runner.

Serna will be in charge of a backfield that returns one starter, Aaron Sanchez, a fullback. The remaining running backs have seen spot time but have gained experience behind three running backs, two of which were with the program since inception.

Serna, the son of Rosie Serna, is a native of El Paso, TX, where he played high school football for Hanks High School.

Coaching staff completed

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Coaching staff completed

I'm sure that having a coach just for that position will be of great help in the back field - the running game will be a valuable assest this year and something we will need to do effectively. This part of the game will define how well wo do against these top teams, you do not want to be one dimensional with them or you are toast.